Method of manufacturing hats



March 31,1931. M. L Ewls METHOD OF' MANUFACTURING HATS Filed Jan. 17, 1930 INVENTOR Patented Mar. 31, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MAURICE LEWIS, F NEW YORK, N.. Y.

METHOD 0F MANUFACTURING- HATS Application ledl January 17, 1930. Serial No. 421,437.

l appearance of hand woven hats.

ccording to my invention I form the hat body by weaving a continuous strip of fabric in sections, each section of which has substantially in the center an imitation button or central weaving point. These sections are 0 then separated or cut apart and individually shaped or formed into hat bodies, the central point of the fiat section being located in the center of the crown of the hat.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a strip consisting of three sections of fabric from which the hats areto be made.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view on a larger scale of a single section cut from the strip and from Whicha single hat is to be made.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a hat body formed from one of these sections.

In accordance with my invention the fabric strip of Fig. 1 is woven on any suitable machine of any suitable materials such, for instance, as visca, horsehair and rayon. Other threads or yarns may be interwoven but preferably either the warp or woof is of a material which has considerable stiffness so that it will retain its shape in the hat.

The adjustment of the machine parts is arranged to produce such design as may be desired as, for instance, the diamond shaped design shown in Fig. 2.

The designs are laid out so as to produce successive sections such as 5, 6 and 7, each section. of which is of a size suitable for the manufacture of a single hat. In Fig. 2, the design produced by the interweaving of the usual warp and Woof threads includes a central diamond 8 with diagonal rib-like portions 9 and 10.

After the strip is woven it is cut up into sections to the proper sizes, each suitable for a single hat.

Each section is then formed into the desired shape on a hat block of any suitable design, the material being sized, steamed, heated and pressed, and so forth. The material vhaving considerable elasticity may be stretched and formed quite readily.

The principal feature consists in arrang- "f'ing the diamond or central point 8 at the center of the crown of the hat so as to produce the appearance of a hand woven hat. It will be seen that in this form the ribs 9 and 10 take up curved lines so that the hat body appears to be made up of a series of sectors 11 and 12 joined along the lines 13 and 14.

The design may be varied Within Wide limits always bearing in mind, however, that each section must have a distinct central portion in imitation of the button of the hand woven hat.

By this invention it is possible to manufacture hats at a very low cost and of substantial uniformity of appearance and embodying substantially any design. Hats heretofore made of visca and the like are either knitted or made by cutting and lapping'or by stitching sections of fabric together. According to my invention I produce a one piece hat crown or body having substantially all the advantages of a hand woven hat but at only a fraction of the cost of a hand woven hat and in fact having greater uniformity of appearance and finish.

It will be understood of course that such hats may be provided with separately formed brims, if desired.

It should be understood that the loom on which the fabric is woven may be adjusted to produce any suitable design, as for instance the simulation of a spiral weave, beginning at the center of the hat section. In each case, however, the design will show a distinctive central figure and the weave will simulate that of the hand-made hat in which the weaving always starts at the center.

My invention, however, contemplates the Weaving on any suitable type of loom in which the threads run substantially longitudinally and transversely of the product as it passes through the loom.

I claim:

The method of making a hat crown -which consists in Weaving a strip of fabric with the warp and Woof laid to create the desired design in a series of sections in the same plane, each section having a distinctive central portion Woven in imitation of the button of a hand Woven hat, then separating the sections and forming each section into a hat crown, the central portion of the section constituting 15 the tip of the crown of the hat.

MAURICE LEWIS. 

